Howdy Farmers! Have you ever wished that you could listen to the Dirt Farmer Radio show, but you couldn't? Maybe you were out plowing the back 40, or milking the cows, or even sowing some wild oats. Maybe you haven't figured out how to join that new fangled contraption, the dirt box. Maybe it's just a little too hard to hear the show. Well Papa Dirt has a surprise for you! We hope that you enjoy this week’s edition of the Dirt Farmer Gazette, a short summary of many of the important subjects discussed on the show. If you like it, please remember to share with your fellow farmers!

July 3rd, 2016

COMMUNITY GOALS

We're kicking off our 3rd week of the Caveman Club Farm with a new set of community goals. .This week we are being asked to CRAFT 3 and a half Million RECIPES in the Twostone Mill. Your individual required contribution will be 30 recipes in order to qualify for the rewards. This weeks rewards UnWithers, Super Fertilizers, Turbo Chargers, Fuel and finally NO WITHER on Caveman Club for 3 daysWe also have a GAME TIP for you this weekIf you do the leaderboards and the Chapter 3 quest, you will only need to craft 3 additional recipes to meet the player goal. Since Community goals go live on Mondays, and leaderboards on Wednesdays,if you complete all of one leaderboard, and 3 recipes from the other while this goal is live, you can gain eligibility for prizes with no additional work.

CONGRATULATIONS!!! to our WINNER of last Week's BATTLEGROUND Caveman Bushels Challenge (week ending 06.26.2016) Angela Rodas. This Week's NEW Challenge is CAVEMAN BUILDING & TREASURE PARTS. The reward for the winner of this Challenge will be a Papa Dirt Prize: your choice of ANY Unwither Ring or Double Statue from the Market. If you are not a member of the Battleground Group JOIN TODAY and invite your friends.

If you ever accidentally purchased bushels with FV Cash, this will NEVER happen again! Farmville is slowly rolling out to farms a FIX to this long time problem and now ALL FARMS Craft Shops and Crafting Cottages have the "Buy" button grayed out when you have enough bushels to craft. We want to thank Farmer Bob Zeller for sharing this new game improvement with us and don't forget that if you have any FV question you can join our ASK HELP Group by clicking the link below. Please share the good news with your friends.

This past Wednesday morning you may or may not have noticed a minor hiccup in the game. Patterned Seashells, Queen's Magnifica and Stick Zingiber were inadvertently removed from the Market. Your Dirt farmer Team quickly alerted the FV Studio and the issue was fixed within minutes.

In your CRAFTSHOPS now, you will find an all-new set of LIMITED EDITION CRAFTSHOP SPECIALS. These specials will be available from June 30, 2016 - October 31, 2016. While none of these items are new, it gives you a chance to get more of something you may already have or something you may have missed. This time around we will have the following recipes available to craft: Bells of Ireland (Tree), Sheep Herder Duck, Drystone Wall, Ireland Sheep and the Celtic Horse.

Farmville has announced a NO FUEL DAY for Tuesday, July 5, 2016. You can use all your vehicles across all of your farms without any fuel all day Tuesday, July 5, 2016.We're seeing more and more of these little treats from the Farmville Studio. Hopefully you will be able to take advantage of this FUEL FREE DAY

**POLL OF THE WEEK**

The Dirt Farmer wants to know... Are you a member of Farmville's VIP Program? Many of you are at least aware of the VIP Program where you pay $10 a month for a VIP Subscription. In return you gain 120FV$ each month as well as an expanded Market Stall that allows you to store extra bushels...and there are many other perks and freebies. We actually had a pretty good response to this poll question. It seems 61% of you do not take advantage of the VIP program but 39% do use this feature.

Just a reminder farmers! On Monday, July 4, you will be granted the Big Chief's consent to unlock the FIRST EXPANSION "Ancient Quarry" on the Caveman Club farm providing you have already met the other requirement - Reach Caveman Club Level 15.

Wednesday will see the release of a brand new set of 3 LEADERBOARD Challenges...Earm Insta-Grows, UnWithers and Super Fertilizers for your farm by completing 3 simple challengesThis weeks LIMITED EDITION CROP challenge will see us harvesting 6000 Candied Caramel. The Candied Caramel is a 24 hour crop and it is in fact ALREADY in the Market...so plant ahead if you want to earn the rewards, just don't harvest until after the Leaderboard goes LIVEOur LOCKED CROP Challenge this week will see us harvesting 300 Sunset Flower in Caveman Club. The Sunset Flower is an 8 hour Caveman Club crop. Our CRAFTY Challenge will see us making 12 Caveman Callers. The Caveman Caller is a 4 hour Two Stone Mill Recipe for which you will need 3 Queens Magnifica, 3 Pre-Evolved Hibiscus and 3 Hanging Fuschia bushels per recipe.

ATTENTION All Farmers!! We have word that the Current Mystery Babies will be EXTENDED through 9/30/2016. So that means another 3 months for the existing Mystery Babies...Or...In other words there will be no NEW updates to the Mystery Babies for 3 months.

Farmville Daily Delights Round 10As with the previous rounds of Daily Delights we will be collecting 7 of the daily required items to redeem them for rewards and to be able to win the bonus item for collecting all of the 7 items.The next 18 weeks of the Daily Delights have now been coded and your Dirt Farmer team has a previewREWARDS: American Pegacorn, Strawberry Cream Cow, Bonsai Thistle Sheep, Dragon Applebottom, Veggie Dog, Zucchini Tree, Caroler Cow, Rabbit King, Tomato Bear, Eagle Fountain, Wafer Cow, Diamonds Llama, Dj Kitties, Queen of Hearts Tree, Abducted Sheep, Zombie Couple, Halloween Glory Cup, Dragonwings Pegacorn

A NEW NEIGHBOR GIFTING EVENT to celebrate Farmville Friendship is NOW LIVE! Send the Star Finches Unicorn to your friends for 5 Farm Cash, and for each you send receive a Yellow Hooded Pegasus in return.

A NEW LONELY ANIMAL ~ IS NOW LIVE!A lonely 4th of July Horse has been spotted wandering onto farms just in time for the July 4th holiday... Get the help of 5 friends in 3 days to coax the wayward critter onto your farm. Hurry before it runs away!

If some of your Caveman Club Trees are showing a Land Expansion when you breed them inside your Orchard know that you are not alone. A 50 X 50 Land Expansion from your Orchard would really be nice, BUT that's probably not gonna happen. Some of the Trees involved include the MINI BANANA TREE, the ORB SHADE TREE, the MANY CROWNS TREE, and the LIGHT OF LIFE TREE. Please be aware that this is a KNOWN ISSUE and has been reported to the Farmville Studio. We hope for a FIX very soon.

Runaway Bouquet

Poor Stan the Caveman, he is head over heels in love and his wedding day is approaching fast. Unfortunately, the beautiful bouquet he made for his bride to be is missing. Can you catch the RUNAWAY BOUQUET and re-assemble it in time? If you do, you will get to keep the pet animals that have absconded with the flowers - and get Stan some pet animals to gift to his wife to be. The new Runaway Bouquet feature is currently scheduled to go live on Monday, July 4th, 2016 and end on Monday, August 1st 2016. It will work similarly to past features like the Wandering Pirate, Saving Seaboo, Clover Madness, Family Reunited and The Lost Reindeer. We will be collecting and crafting fruit treats to lure the animals out of hiding. Check out the details below and please do share.

Howdy Farmers! Here at THE DIRT FARMER we keep on top of ALL aspects of the Game that we love the Dates, the Times, the Prizes, and any Changes that we see. Did you notice that the upcoming PICNIC DAY QUEST has a start date of SUNDAY July 17th? BUT WAIT!! This is supposed to be the THURSDAY All Farm Quest, not the SUNDAY All Farm Quest?! Are they trying to throw us off of our rhythm? Is it an evil plan to disrupt the Farmville Universe?? OH MY! Don't panic dear Farmers, Your Dirt Farmer Team has contacted the Farmville Studio. And we plan to get to the bottom of this Sunday / Thursday DATE DISCREPANCY and just as soon as we get any more information we will pass it along to YOU!

We have a new ALL FARMS Quest that is scheduled for this coming Thursday.Farmville's FESTIVAL OF THE BALLOON Quest will see us attempting to clear 9 stages of tasks in the usual 2 weeks.Be sure to plant ahead for BushelsOYSTER CROP IS PLANTED ON WATER PLOTSYELLOW MARIGOLD AND KIDNEY BEAN CROP TAKES 16 HOURS TO GROWRYE CROP TAKES 20 HOURS TO GROWHAWAIIAN GINGER CROP TAKES 46 HOURS TO GROWWe also have a new and rather phallic crop for this new quest. The BALLOON CUCUMBER crop is just hilarious, but it's a balloon, maybe a latex balloon, so it's SAFE.REWARDS: Carnival Balloon Dog, Book Of XP, 3 pack of Turbo Chargers, Water Balloon Jugglers, Unwither, Super Fertilizer, Floating Panda, Instagrow Potion, Balloon Wing Pegasus

We also have a new Caveman Club Chapter Quest to talk about this evening, Chapter 3 should go LIVE sometime tomorrow.Six stages to play and you can get a jump on your crafting by pre-making 3 Slingshots and 3 Fish Bone Combs in the Twostone Mill, this will get you through the hardest tasks of the first 2 stages since the harvesting requirements start off very lightREWARDS: Boulder Tree, Seashore Shellter, Fiery Owl, Sabretoothed Hippocamp, Volcano Rhino, Slate Stallion

Have you ever glanced at the Suggested Friends category in your Facebook account and noticed some random people who look vaguely familiar mixed in with your real friends and acquaintances? Well, you might have passed those people on the street.How did these people get onto your screen? Facebook uses the geolocation data from your phone to be a friend matchmaker of sorts, suggesting people who are close by."We often suggest people you may know based on things you have in common, like mutual friends, places you've visited, or the city you live in," a Facebook spokesperson said in a statement. "But location information by itself doesn't indicate that two people might be friends. That's why location is only one of the factors we use to suggest people you may know."Still, it may seem a little unsettling, even creepy to know Facebook is tracking your movements and using the information in this way.If you want to avoid getting friend suggestions for nearby strangers, you can easily disable the feature from your Facebook smartphone app. Here's how:For Android devices:Those with the Android 6.0 Marshmallow operating system can head into Settings, choose Apps, then select Facebook, select Permissions, and then set Location to "off."For Apple devices:Apple fans who want to avoid unwanted social media attention from strangers in the neighborhood can follow these steps. To disable the feature in iOS, head over to Settings, choose Privacy, then go to Location Services, and select Facebook. Once you choose Facebook, tap on "never" in the list of options for allowing location access.

Of course, Facebook is not alone among tech companies in using information from your phone location data. A wide range of social media apps like Foursquare and Tinder rely on such data to connect you with friends or potential matches in the area.But some users are surprised to discover other ways their data is being used. For example, Google uses data on where you are and what you search for to target ads for you.In fact, last year Wired reported that Google was even trying to develop ways to make TV ads function more like their targeted Web and mobile counterparts. In Kansas City, the company tested-piloted Google Fiber TV packages that tracked customer location and viewing history in order to send out targeted ads.

This week our friends over at Venture Beat had a very interesting article about Zynga's relationship with Facebook. Very similar to posts The Dirt Farmer has published over the years.The title: Facebook kicked Zynga to the curb, publishers are next. Is an opinion piece about the latest change to the every changing Facebook algorithm. That's what basically messes up our NEWSFEED(the article reads) In hindsight, Zynga’s business never really made sense. When the gaming empire went public in 2011, the company hinged on fads (online farming?) and owed its existence to Facebook.Zynga rode Facebook to the top and the two grew dependent on one another. Then when the timing was right — when Facebook didn’t need Zynga or any other gaming company to prove it could make money — Facebook cut the cord.The gaming publisher’s market cap peaked above $10 billion in March 2011. Today it’s worth a fraction of that.

More recently Facebook has decided to declare ALL it's publisher's un-needed. What are PUBLISHERS. Well, you all are, anything you post to Facebook whether it's sharing your recipe for apple cobbler or re-sharing a funny cartoon. There are also more organized PUBLISHERS such as THE DIRT FARMER. With the latest tweeks to it's algorithm Facebook is assuring that you will see less and less of posts from Pages that you probably LIKED for a reason. The upside is you will be seeing more posts from friends. In other words you will be more likely to see where your Aunt Ida stubbed her toe post and less likely to see The Dirt Farmer post the newest Quest Guide, or less likely to see BREAKING NEWS from CNN or FOX.Now back to how this affects Zynga. Just like the cracks in Zynga’s business model began to show in 2011, the media industry’s Facebook addiction, and the mirage of endless scale, is now becoming painfully clear in the year 2016. Although this increasingly tumultuous relationship has been covered ad nauseam, the comparison feels more apt today than ever.In the years since Mark Pincus’ heyday, history has repeated itself to some degree. Publishers, from century-old newspapers struggling with print’s decline to trendy new media startups running out of VC money, have turned to Facebook for help. And Mark Zuckerberg, with his pet project to become the world’s newspaper, watched as publishers and aggregators grew dangerously dependent on the social network and just about enveloped it.

That’s not to say Facebook doesn’t need publishers anymore; it just needs them a little less. The trouble is, every time Facebook needs the media a little less, they need Facebook that much more.The moment the social network throws publishers a bone, they leap towards it. Instant Articles lured media companies in with the promise of eyeballs: Don’t worry about your website, your engineers, or your sales team — Facebook can provide all of that, as long as it sees fit. Until the algorithm changes again. Deeper we dig in.Facebook now wields more influence over the news than the news industry itself. Publishers, by playing ball, helped make this happen, and looked away (or didn’t notice) as Facebook swallowed up a lot of the print ad revenue that once belonged to them.Media giants could cut ties now, but they won’t. Like the Zyngas before us, most publishers are far too dependent to quit cold turkey. There are plenty of interesting ways to run a media company, and there are other platforms to turn to. Journalism and writers aren’t flat-out doomed, but some publishers are.Facebook saw that its social network was becoming less social, and now it’s taking action. This is a good thing (if you’re Facebook). Facebook has a track record of good decisions. And this decision reinforces just how screwed publishers are as long as their business models hinge on Facebook.

It is the first of the month, and we all know what that means. We have a brand new CAUSE in the Dirt Farmer Farmer Foundation The Dirt Farmer Foundation CAUSE it’s JULY is Give Kids The World Village, a nonprofit resort in Central Florida that provides weeklong, cost-free vacations to children with life-threatening illnesses and their families from all 50 states and 75 countries. We invite you to JOIN and SUPPORT this wonderful Cause, spread the word and share with your friends.

FARMER'S SHOWCASE is an OPEN GROUP where you can show off your farmONLY Farm Pic posts. Cool, Funny or AWESOMEShow your MAD decorating skills or something unique and funny you see on your farm.

Check out this amazing farm art by Farmer Marizel Grace!

We all know that playing Farmville isn't getting any easier these days. Whether Farmville is throttling access to your friends or the Facebook newsfeed is hiding them from you it's hard to find help links on the newsfeed. Add that to the fact that a lot of fellow players have quit and it becomes very challenging to find help. That's why you should join one or all of the Dirt Farmers SHARE Groups. Mam-Maw's Trading Post, Quest Help and More, The VOTE HELP Group and GOT SHEEP are link sharing groups where you can find neat items and even get help with common FV activities. Be sure to ASK to JOIN today and please tell your FV friends about these helpful resources

In the meantime, we hope you will visit our website as often as possible. Your support and your clicks on that website is what enables us to provide our services to all the players.Share those posts from our Facebook page so we can reach even more players, so we can help them manage their game and stay in the game.Without YOUR support there is no Dirt Farmer. Thanks to each and every one of you!

Here’s the link to this week’s podcast, because don’t you really want to listen to all of it after reading the summary?